Reject GOD and Deny His Existence

Obadiah 1:15

"As you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head" (Obadiah 1:15).

Among others, many prominent entertainers and respected educa­tional leaders reject God and deny the existence of an absolute moral standard. They say we can determine for ourselves what is right and wrong.

They laugh at words like patriotism, duty, loyalty, and godli­ness.

But now their influence is reaping a bitter harvest—multiplied abortions, heartbreaking divorces, violent crimes, teenage suicides, and disturbing payoffs by foreign agents for military secrets.

Discussing an unprecedented rash of Americans spying for other countries, Charles Colson said that the U.S. is reaping what it has sown.

Obadiah warned the Edomites that they would reap what they had sown. Using the past tense but speaking about the future, he portrayed the lighthearted drinking of their wild parties and said that their derisive fun would soon give way to somber drinking from the cup of God's wrath. His prophecy was fulfilled. Within a few years Edom was destroyed by Gentile powers.

We must remember the reaping principle. Woven into the fabric of life, it applies to individuals as much as to nations. It's both a warning and a promise. When we do evil, we reap judgment. But when we do good, we reap the blessing of God's approval. —H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Those who plant thorns cannot expect to gather flowers.

Obadiah - Secret Service?

Read: 1 Kings 18:1-20 NASB

Obadiah Meets Elijah

1 Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.”

2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

3 Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly;

4 for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)

5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.”

6 So they divided the land between them to 1survey it; Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?”

8 He said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”

9 He said, “What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

10 “As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.

11 “And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’

12 “It will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you where I do not know; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth.

13 “Has it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, that I hid a hundred prophets of the Lord by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?

14 “And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here” ’; he will then kill me.”

15 Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?”

18 He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals.

19 “Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

God or Baal on Mount Carmel

20 So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. —1 Kings 18:3

Should our service for the Lord always be out in the open for all to see? Or should it sometimes be kept secret to assure its success? This may seem like an irrelevant question to believers who enjoy religious freedom. But it’s the kind of dilemma more and more people are facing as opposition to Christianity grows.

In 1 Kings 18, we read that Obadiah faced this very question. As a godly man serving in King Ahab’s palace, he hated what Ahab’s wife Jezebel had done. While she was killing many of the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah hid 100 of them in caves and secretly fed them.

During this time Obadiah had an unexpected meeting with Elijah, who asked him to inform Ahab that he had arrived. Ahab viewed Elijah as a “troubler of Israel” (v.17) and was hunting him down. So for Obadiah to tell Ahab that he had talked with Elijah would identify him with God’s prophet and jeopardize his own life. But he obeyed Elijah and acted openly. He was not killed, and God blessed both his open and his secret service. As a result, many of God’s prophets were saved.

O God, give us wisdom to know how best to serve You—whether openly or in secret. May our service always be motivated by our great love and respect for You. —JDB

Sometimes we face a crucial choice

To hold our peace or take a stand;

With either course we need God's help—

His wisdom and His guiding hand. —D. De Haan

God is more interested

in our motives 

than our methods.

By Dave Branon

We Will Answer For All Our Deeds

Obadiah 1:15-21

As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. - Obadiah 1:15b

from TODAY IN THE WORD

Many people suffer from myopia, a condition that allows them to see things at close range but not far away. They are described as being nearsighted.

Some are so nearsighted that they are legally blind. The Edomites suffered from spiritual myopia--too nearsighted to look into the future and realize that one day God would judge them.

The Edomites had been shortsighted in their celebration of Judah’s defeat. They had not considered that the same God who had justly punished Judah would call them to account for their treatment of their neighbors when the Day of the Lord finally arrived. All the nations will be judged on the basis of their works (v. 15). This is the fate of all those who refuse to accept the grace of God. They receive justice instead of mercy.

Under the standard of justice, the Edomites would be treated just as they had treated others. On the day that Jerusalem fell, they were giddy to the point of drunkenness. When the Day of the Lord finally comes, they will be forced to drink from another cup.

Elsewhere in the Bible, the metaphor of a cup is used to speak of God’s wrath (cf. Isa. 51:17). In Psalm 75 it is compared to a cup of foaming wine mixed with spices (Ps. 75:8). The promise in verse 16 of Obadiah that the nations “will drink and drink and be as if they had never been” speaks of an experience of divine wrath that never ends.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY

John Wesley described the Day of the Lord as a day of judgment and a day of mercy: “O make proof of His mercy, rather than His justice; of His love rather than the thunder of His power! He is not far from every one of us; and He is now come, not to condemn, but to save the world. He standeth in the midst! 

(Today in the Word. Moody Bible Institute. Used by Permission. All rights reserved)

Withholding Brotherly Kindness

Obadiah 1:11

by C H Spurgeon

“Even thou wast as one of them.” — Obadiah 1:11

Morning:

Brotherly kindness was due from Edom to Israel in the time of need, but instead thereof, the men of Esau made common cause with Israel’s foes. Special stress in the sentence before us is laid upon the word thou; as when Caesar cried to Brutus, “and thou Brutus”; a bad action may be all the worse, because of the person who has committed it.

When we sin, who are the chosen favourites of heaven, we sin with an emphasis; ours is a crying offence, because we are so peculiarly indulged. If an angel should lay his hand upon us when we are doing evil, he need not use any other rebuke than the question, “What thou? What dost thou here?” Much forgiven, much delivered, much instructed, much enriched, much blessed, shall we dare to put forth our hand unto evil? God forbid!

Evening:

A few minutes of confession may be beneficial to thee, gentle reader, this morning. Hast thou never been as the wicked? At an evening party certain men laughed at uncleanness, and the joke was not altogether offensive to thine ear, even thou wast as one of them. When hard things were spoken concerning the ways of God, thou wast bashfully silent; and so, to on-lookers, thou wast as one of them.

When worldlings were bartering in the market, and driving hard bargains, wast thou not as one of them? When they were pursuing vanity with a hunter’s foot, wert thou not as greedy for gain as they were? Could any difference be discerned between thee and them? Is there any difference? Here we come to close quarters.

Be honest with thine own soul, and make sure that thou art a new creature in Christ Jesus; but when this is sure, walk jealously, lest any should again be able to say, “Even thou wast as one of them.” Thou wouldst not desire to share their eternal doom, why then be like them here? Come not thou into their secret, lest thou come into their ruin. Side with the afflicted people of God, and not with the world.

Have A Blessed Weekend...

Did You Decided, There Is No God???

Obadiah 1:15-21

The day of the LORD is near for all nations. - Obadiah 1:15

from TODAY IN THE WORD

World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has decided there is no God. In an interview, he suggested that “God” could be defined as “the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of as God. They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible.” In his book, The Grand Design, he wrote he’s concluded that the universe was not created by a supernatural God but by a wholly natural Big Bang. The idea of a creator is “not necessary.” “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.”

For all those who say in their heart, “There is no God” (Ps. 14:1), a day of reckoning will come. “The day of the LORD is near for all nations” (Obadiah 15). On that day, people will reap what they have sown. Just as Edom had sat drinking and carousing among the ruins of Jerusalem, so also will the nations be forced to drink the cup of God’s wrath on the day of judgment (Obadiah 16). As Paul wrote: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction” (Gal. 6:7-8).

Thankfully, the day of judgment is also a day of deliverance for those who love the Lord (Obadiah 17). Righteousness will triumph over sin and evil. In terms of the judgment on Edom, in a bit of divine poetic justice Obadiah said that it would be the Israelites themselves who would execute judgment on Edom, specifically that the returnees from exile would occupy the former land of Edom (Obadiah 18-20). In the end, Mount Zion would emerge not as a place of defeat and exile and destruction, but a place of victory and deliverance and power. “And the kingdom will be the LORD’s” (Obadiah 21).

APPLY THE WORD

If we all reaped strictly what we’ve sown, there would be no hope for any of us. Because Jesus died in our stead, however, we no longer owe a penalty of death if we trust in His name (John 3:16). When we take communion, we do so in remembrance of Him—His body, broken for us, and His blood, shed for us (1 Cor. 11:23-26). From which cup will you drink? The cup of God’s wrath, or the cup of communion? Choose love and rejoice!

Foodie Friday:

BAKED CHICKEN PARMESAN

4 Freestyle Points 251 calories

Total Time:40 minutes

Prep Time:10 minutes

Cook Time:30 minutes

The Best Chicken Parmesan recipe, made a bit healthier! Breaded chicken cutlets are baked, not fried yet the chicken is so moist and full of flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 (about 8 oz each) chicken breast, fat trimmed, sliced in half lengthwise to make 8

• 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat, you can also use GF crumbs)

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 2 tbsp butter, melted (or olive oil)

• 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese 

• 1 cup marinara sauce or Filetto di Pomodoro

• cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450°F. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with spray.

Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Melt the butter in another bowl. Lightly brush the butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture.  Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Lightly spray a little more oil on top and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven, spoon 1 tbsp sauce over each piece of chicken and top each with 1 1/2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Yield: 8 Servings, Serving Size: 1 piece

Amount Per Serving:Freestyle Points: 4 Points +: 6 Calories: 251 calories 

Total Fat: 9.5g Saturated Fat: g

Cholesterol: 14mg 

Sodium: mg

Carbohydrates: 14g

Fiber: 1.5g

Sugar: 0g

Protein: 31.5g

Baked Chicken Parmesan Video 

May Have To Copy 'n Paste

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1601089473246365

All images and text ©Gina Homolka for Skinnytaste